If you are disabled and you meet the necessary requirements, you can receive disability benefits through Social Security. Reaves Law Firm, PLLC is here to help you determine if you qualify, how to file, and how to appeal if your claim for benefits has been denied.

Who Qualifies?

Only qualifying individuals can receive Social Security disability benefits. In order to receive benefits, you must have been employed in an occupation covered by Social Security. Some jobs that are not covered by Social Security include:

• Federal employees
• Railroad employees
• State and local government employees
• Under-21 (working for parents)

If you were not excluded by this list, the next step is to determine if you’ve worked long enough, and recently enough, to qualify under Social Security[1].

• Are you under the age of 24? You must have worked at least a year-and-a-half of the past three years in order to qualify for benefits.
• Are you between the ages of 24 and 30? You must have worked at least half of the time between the day you turned 21 and the date of your injury.
• Are you over the age of 31? You need to have worked enough years to earn a minimum of five credits to qualify for disability. The credit requirements go up the older you get.

What disabilities are covered?

Your injury must meet the criteria of disability defined by Social Security. A simplified definition of disability is the inability to work because of an injury or illness[2]. This means:

• You are unable to perform the work you did before
• You are unable to adjust to a different type of work
• Your disability is expected to last a minimum of one year or cause death

Appealing Denied Claims

Did you know that the Social Security Administration only accepts about 30% of claims for disability it receives the first time around? That means approximately seven out of every ten applications for disability is denied initially. With a skilled attorney in your corner, you could potentially mitigate the first-time denial so that you get the benefits you deserve as fast as possible.

To learn more about how Reaves Law Firm, PLLC could help you, call (901) 403-7570 today!

Resources

[1] https://www.ssa.gov/planners/disability/dqualify2.html
[2] https://www.ssa.gov/planners/disability/dqualify4.html